1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications. More specifically, the present invention concerns a voice-activated telephone business directory that is toll-free to the caller and accessible via a heavily advertised, easily remembered access number to quickly and automatically connect a caller to a selected business.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
As markets have continued to become more globalized, telecommunications have grown more vital in maintaining channels of communication between remotely located individuals and corporations engaged in business. It is therefore desirable to provide the remotely located individuals with an efficient, easy-to-use, cost-effective system to access and connect to a business""s telephone number.
It is known in the art to provide an individual user with a telephone book having a limited number of sorted business listings. These prior book directories, however, are problematic and suffer from several limitations. For example, the book directories are limited in the quantity of numbers they contain and are difficult to update. Furthermore, the individual must have the book accessible in order to find the desired number and once the number is retrieved, the user must physically dial the number, often at the user""s expense.
It is known in the art to provide a voice-activated database directory accessible by dialing an access number. These prior art database directories, however, are also problematic and suffer from several limitations. For example, the access numbers are difficult for users to remember and the caller is typically required to pay for using the access number. Additionally, these directories are relatively slow to activate or require the user to register voice templates and/or number listings in advance.
The present invention provides an improved voice-activated telephone directory that is toll-free to the caller and accessible via a heavily advertised, easily remembered access number to quickly and automatically connect a caller to a selected business.
A first aspect of the present invention concerns a method of operating a telecommunications network for providing a voice-activated telephone directory. The inventive method broadly includes the steps of heavily advertising an easily remembered toll-free telephone number for accessing the network directory, receiving a telephone call over the network from a caller in response to the caller dialing the access number, activating a voice-prompt from a voice server prompting the caller to speak a spoken category, comparing the category spoken by the caller with a stored database of categories to determine a first match, activating a voice-prompt from the voice server prompting the caller to speak a spoken business identity if the first match is determined, comparing the business identity spoken by the caller with a stored subdirectory of business identities grouped to the matched category to determine a second match, connecting the caller to a business telephone number associated with the matched business identity if the second match is determined, charging the business the caller was connected to a fee for making the connection, and connecting the caller to a live operator if the first or second match is not determined.
A second aspect of the present invention concerns a voice-activated telephone directory. The directory broadly includes a first database, a second database, a voice server, and a billing server. The first database includes a plurality of business identities wherein each identity is associated with a business telephone number. The second database includes a plurality of business categories wherein each category is associated with at least a portion of the plurality of business identities. The voice server is activated by a caller dialing a toll-free access number and is operable to receive a first spoken entry from the caller and compare the first entry with the plurality of business categories in the second database to determine a first match. The voice server is operable to prompt the caller to speak a second spoken entry if the first match is determined, receive the second entry, and compare the second entry with the plurality of business identities in the first database to determine a second match. If the second match is determined, the voce server is operable to connect the caller to the business telephone number associated with the business identity matching the second spoken entry. The billing server is operable to tabulate the total connections made by the voice server to each business telephone number associated with each business identity in the first database.
Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawing figures.